When animal activism can get you all mushy!

This daughter of mine puts me through all the war hoops possible! If I were to keep a count of the times she has scared me out of my skin, I’d have long since turned into one of those skeletons you see at laboratories! That’s a joke BTW ...... a mamma needs to put in plenty of hours of rigorous workouts to get herself anywhere near skeleton-thin ...... kind of makes me wonder what happens to those calories burned toiling all day long at being a Mom.

It was okay when she began her animal loving activism, saving all the ants and insects she could boss over with her three-year old scrawny body. Of course, it meant treading about very carefully, lest I trip over her crouching self, not to forget those teeny-weeny pals of hers from the animal kingdom.

Short of sounding cliched, her inspiration was none other than the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin himself. So during her early years, when Moms coochie-coo with their toddling daughters, I spend time beside her ooh-ing and aah-ing over her TV pals from Animal Planet and Nat Geo. I recall having some tough times, when she put me through the hoops ..... with questions like ... why can’t we be like the Steve uncle and Terry aunty family, traipsing through jungle terrain at night looking for some colourful frog! Of all the ………!!!!!!!!

That was her ANIMAL KEEPER phase, that did give me many a sleepless night, wondering what IF she REALLY went on to become one when she grew up? Would she really traipse through jungles with stranger male colleagues at night time, looking for snakes and foxes? Could I ever relate to her then?

Of course, it ended with the sad demise of Steve Irwin. As a Mamma who would like to shelter her daughter from all the gory facts of life, I just wish it had been some other reason that put her TOTALLY off TV and all things on four n eight legs for a long long while.

There was a period soon after, when she took to being Scooby-Doo to her ‘Shaggy’ Mama. It was the peak arthritic phase, so this Mama would indeed ‘rock’ each time the Scooby daughter launched herself upon her. The first time she began licking me all over Scooby style, I did explain to her that we humans do not lick but kiss. And wow, did she cover me up with her wet wet kisses……. if anyone can love wet kisses, sometime choco gooey and more than often smelling of milk, I guess a mom would win the vote anyday hands down.

So now when I see her marking Cats Day on her personal desk calendar, and watch her doing nothing other than mope all through the day in honour of her beloved cat Chips, it kind of hurts me within. If she moans her cat thus, what would she do if she lost some dear one?

But then life's like that ......and as a Mamma who rocks, I just can't afford to get all mushy, can I?